Note: Please Read all steps and read them carefully (if youre just starting at this stuff that is!) if you want to make this right! It should be easy if you follow the steps well. This is more of a beginners project, you could still make it otherwise!

If you have tried and tried to make guitar effects pedals and have not succeeded, this instructable is for you! Or if this is your very first one then this is definitely the place for you to be. I have not found one instructable or website that gives clear step by step instructions on how to make guitar effects pedals. I found one quite clear with the instructions, and all the comments helped out too. It just lacked the Step by Step part. This is it: www.instructables.com/id/Very_simple_and_cheap_GuitarBass_distortion_pedal/
I am using the design (schematic) from this one as it is a very simple distortion pedal.

lets get started!

Update:

Okay so Amerinidiot1231 was kind enough to create the perf board layout schematic, so that is attached on this page if you would like to refer to it.

Sure: I used the same circuit as the one above but I added a third diode, I put a 2,2 MOhm resistor as R1 to get a lot of distortion and replaced C1 for a 47nF capacitor. I tried several diodes and found out that the best sounding combination was these three diodes in parallel and inverting their "polarity": 1N4003 (or 1N4001), 1N5819, 1N4003 (or 1N4001). By inverting the polarity I mean that, just like in the diagram above, every diode's mark (the little line thy have) should be facing away from the marks of the diodes on their sides. I hope I explained it decently.

I put it together and more or less got what I'd call a "tone enhancer." There was no distortion, but it made a pretty nice booster pedal that made my solid state sound kinda tube-y... Asymmetrical clipping with both Silicon and Germanium diodes if someone's interested.

Hello! I'm very interested in making my own distortion pedal. I made a quick image showing my components wired. Could you please check if my electrolytic capacitors are wired in correct way and will my circuit work with shown components?

Be extra careful opening electrical components like computer power supply's, tv's, radios, things you do not no about with to start. BECAUSE capacitors can still have a charge inside of them that can hurt or kill you. Unless you know about the different things that are dangerous inside of electrical components, buy new and educate yourself first.

I'm new to this, and this was my first build. When I tested the pedal without a battery it produced the normal sound you would expect from the amp, but when I put the battery on it cut the sound drastically and had no distortion. And when I took the battery back off I had strong distortion but it slowly faded away back to clean. I followed the schem above with out adding the bypass switch and I bought all my material from Radio Shack brand new. Any ideas on what's going on and how I can fix it?

Ok so I've made the circuit and I've tried several different configurations of diodes, resistors and capacitors but I either get a punchy warm fat sound or a light overdrive or a farty gated sound. In place of the variable components I currently have: capacitor 10uF, 1N914 type diode, led, and a 3.3m resistor. And the resistor that is supposed to be "around 100k" is 120k. Also my transistor is taller than the rest of the transistors that I've found, and I can't find a designator on it, maybe I'll try to look closer at it with a magnifying glass.

hey, i've tried doing this pedal twice, both with no results. ive checked and double checked my connections. i have a feeling its the npn, i got it out of an old set of computer speakers. could it be in backwards? middle is base and from the flat side the left is connector and the right is emitter? do all npn's work or do i really need to use the one you've specified? i did manage to get a very weak signal that sounded awful, then nothing. there is power being drawn from the battery.

It would be great if the list of what I need it at the first page, and also where to buy them cause I usually don't get to look for the materials. :(( :) I haven't tried this though, so I might encounter some problems.

If the diode causes the distortion in your amp, it should work. Go ahead, but if I were you I would buy some different ones, try googling 'what diodes does the (insert amp name here) use for distortion. If you find out that it was different to the diodes listed on this instructable, please share what type, because they may have a different/better sound.